DUB’S SLO BLOW
Toon keeper’s howler opens floodgates for Spain
IF MARTIN DUBRAVKA ever considers going to Spain for a holiday, there is one thing for sure – he will never have to buy a drink.
The Newcastle keeper might be best off sticking to Whitley Bay after this calamitous display in Seville.
He was the toast of the town for all the wrong reasons after gifting the home nation a two-goal halftime lead.
Back-to-back draws had put Spain in danger of crashing out of the tournament but they showed their teeth at last to book a last-16 meeting with Croatia in Copenhagen.
Slovakia were poor but underpressure Luis Enrique’s men did the job to stave off an embarrassing early exit.
They even led the group for a brief moment until Sweden grabbed the winner against Poland in the other group game.
It was Spain boss Enrique who felt like a drink, saying: “I always felt that as soon as we took the cork out you might see the best of us.”
How quickly fortunes changed for Dubravka, left holding his head in his hands after scoring a spectacular own goal shortly after saving an Alvaro Morata penalty.
Dubravka looked like he’d had a lucky escape when Pablo Sarabia’s shot crashed against the crossbar and flew up into the sky.
As it came down, the stopper swung on the bar as he attempted to tip it over but flapped at it with his right hand and swatted it into the net.
And there was worse to come, the Toon goalkeeper hardly covering himself in glory as Spain doubled their lead three minutes into first-half stoppage time when he misjudged a cross for Aymeric Laporte to nod home.
Spain added a third in the 56th minute when Sarabia was first to meet Jordi Alba’s cross.
Ferran Torres scored Spain’s fourth with his first touch after coming off the bench in the 67th minute and Pau Torres so nearly repeated the feat a few minutes later, only to see Juraj
Kucka get the last touch to take it over the line to complete the rout.
Slovakia coach Stefan Tarkovic admitted his side had been overpowered, saying: “After the third goal, I felt it turned into an exhibition match.”
SLOVAKIA (4-5-1): Dubravka 3; Pekarik 5, Skriniar 5, Satka 4, Hubocan 5; Kucka 6, Hromada 5 (Lobotka 46, 5), Harasin 5 (Suslov 69, 5), Hamsik 6 (Benej 89), Mak 5 (Weiss 69, 5); Duda 5 (Duris 46, 5).
SPAIN (4-3-3): Simon 7; Azpilicueta 7 (Oyarzabal 77), Garcia 7 (Pau Torres 71), Laporte 7, Alba 7; Busquets 7 (Thiago 71), Koke 7, Pedri 7; Moreno 7 (Traore 77), Morata 6 (Ferran Torres 66, 7), SARABIA 8.
REFEREE: Bjorn Kuipers (Holland) 7.